JKR Quotes: Wizarding World

Magical Birth (Squibs, Muggle-borns) and Death (Ghosthood)

Why do some wizards/witches become ghosts and others don't? Another superb
question, and this time I can tell you that you will find out much more about
that in book five. AOL
Chat (October 2000)

[What makes some witches/wizards become ghosts after they die and some not?]
You don't really find that out until Book VII, but I can say that the happiest
people do not become ghosts. As you might guess, Moaning Myrtle! Scholastic
Chat (February 2000)

Sometimes a witch or a wizard occurs in an otherwise Muggle family, just as
a Squib is a non-magic person who occurs in an otherwise magic family. Scholastic
Chat (February 2000)

Hogwarts and Magical Education

There are about a thousand students at Hogwarts. Scholastic
Chat (October 2000)

[Is 12 the maximum possible number of OWLs one can achieve?] Yes, I think it
is off the top of my head. World
Book Day chat (March 2004)

Well your guess is as good as mine… Well, really, [Arithmancy is] predicting
the future using numbers, but I've also decided there's a bit of numerology
in there as well. Royal
Albert Hall (June 2003)

[HPFreak7: How are muggle parents convinced to let their kids go to Hogwarts,
a strange place they never heard of before; and wouldn't they think it was a
practical joke?] In the case of Muggle parents, special messengers are sent
to explain everything to them. But don't forget that they will have noticed
that there's something strange about their child for the previous ten years,
so it won't come as a complete bolt from the blue. World
Book Day chat (March 2004)

[If you could travel to Hogwarts for an hour, what would you do there?] Go
straight into a certain room, mentioned in book four which has certain magical
properties Harry hasn't discovered yet!Comic
Relief chat (March 2001)

[Can prefects take points or not?] Ron got it wrong in 'Phoenix', from which
we deduce that he hasn't been a very authoritarian prefect thus far; he clearly
hasn't been taking points from anybody. JK
Rowling Official Site

[Since Gryffindor seems to be the favorite house, does that mean you value
bravery over wit and kindheartedness and cunning (the signatures of the other
three houses)?] I value wit and kindheartedness a lot, but yes, I think bravery
would get my vote in a contest.Barnes
& Noble chat (October 2000)

Magical Places and Things

[Where is Azkaban?] In the north of the North Sea. A very cold sea. Scholastic
Chat (February 2000)

They have a means of finding out what goes on in the outside world that I think
is more fun than the Internet. Could anything be more fun than the Internet?
Yes! Scholastic
chat (March 2001)

Muggles and Wizarding World

[Are the Muggle and Magical worlds ever going to be rejoined?] No, the breach
was final, although as book six shows, the Muggles are noticing more and more
odd happenings now that Voldemort's back. World
Book Day chat (March 2004)

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